I live next door with a woman in her 80s who sits in the front room of her house with her head in her hands. Every time I glimpse her sitting there as I'm taking dirty nappies to the bin or dashing outside to put the kids in the car with a toddler kicking me and a bay to load up too I feel so sorry for her. She's particularly cranky, whenever my partner tries to mow her part of the lawn to help she yells at him and says 'that's my side'. She had a fall around Christmas time and I lied with her in the driveway until the ambulance came, she looked into my eyes and said 'it's just so awful'. I've decided to take some steps to help her out, despite the fact she's tough to deal with and even though I have 2 babies and 3 jobs. I myself these days, often find myself so low, just calling my friends saying 'I can't get a break, even 2 minutes on the toilet or to shower by myself would be incredible', I can't imagine how she must feel not being able to call a friend or having one to call. Council workers come and go from her house but there is a distinct lack of people who care I think. A neighbour told us 'she can't get a gardener because she's been too rude to all of them and her kids can't stand her'.

It's all made me consider the busyness of life and the sadness of children who give up on their parents when things get tough. I vow not to do this. I know when I cried as a baby my mother and father never gave up on me. When I was a crappy, early 20 something and threw all the opportunities I'd be offered in their faces and was genuinely a bad person they were still there supporting me. Trust me, I feel bogged down in the busyness, my partner keeps pleading to me, 'give up one of your jobs' but I love work, apart from being mother's, we're living breathing people with dreams and careers we're passionate about, just to throw that away seems ridiculous. That's why they call us Supermum's right? Because we strive to be the best mums and parents and the best employees a boss could wish for, then at the end of the day we fall down for a few hours, then get back up and do it again. We also visit sad neighbours, I vow to do this.